Convenience is often the main driver in a lot of purchases. That was the driver for the purchase of an FSA chain ring. Performance Bike is right around the corner from my office, so when I needed a new middle ring I figured I's just grab one there. Big mistake.
After installation I was having a lot of problems moving from the little ring to the middle ring. The ramping on the FSA ring was not as deep and it didn't have the tooling that my old Race Face ring had. In comparison, if you look at a 1-2 year old Race Face you can see the deeper tooling on the silver Race Face:
With the poor ramping, when I needed to shift up to the middle, it was typically 10-12 FULL revolutions of the cranks before the ramping kicked in and the chain moved up. I put on a new Race Face this afternoon and took off the 2-month old FSA. Immediately I was back to upsifting in a single revolution (or less).
Product: FSA Chain Rings (32T,BCD 104)
Manufacturer: FSA
Rating (1-10): 0 of 10
Pros: None
Cons: Terrible shifting, wore down very quickly after 2 months of use.
Configuration: 2x9 Shimano XT cranks
Verdict: Don't bother. Drive the extra mile and get a Race Face or a Salsa ring
Website: http://www.fullspeedahead.com/